A rea studies specialists are tasked with building unique collections of materials in a diverse array of formats and languages from countries around the world. These materials are not always readily discoverable or available via typical acquisitions methods such as working with vendors and ordering from online bookstores. Buying trips are one effective tool to help area specialist librarians, and other librarians whose collection development responsibilities include an international component, build rich and unique collections. However, institutional support for overseas acquisitions trips varies between institutions as administrators consider whether the benefits of overseas buying trips outweigh the associated challenges and expenses. Peer-reviewed professional literature on the topic is scarce and this study was undertaken as a preliminary attempt to describe the opportunities and challenges associated with overseas buying trips.For the purposes of this study, overseas buying trips are defined as trips to a country outside of the location of a librarian's home institution in which collection development and acquisitions activities take place. It is not necessary for collection development or acquisitions to be the primary purpose of the trip, nor do materials have to be purchased, but there should be evidence of deliberate activity that occurred during the trip relating to collection development and acquisitions. Examples of deliberate activity can include attending book fairs, visiting vendors or publishers, visiting libraries and cultural institutions with an eye towards identifying materials to acquire or make accessible by other means such as digitization, receiving free materials that will be added a library collection, etc.

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To evaluate the current state of resource sharing and cooperative collection development, this paper examines the relationship between less commonly taught language collections (LCTL) and ILL services. The study examined multiple years of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s resource-sharing data. This paper provides a historical narrative for the multilingual collections, collection development strategies, reference services, and outreach initiatives that reinforce and strengthen scholarly communication and resource sharing among academic libraries. The paper concludes by examining the feasibility of aggregating, or concentrating, collections of difficult-to-acquire, low-use materials at institutions that can provide service at a regional and/or national level.

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